Animal Updates - May 4

Published May 04, 2012

Between our Baltimore and Washington, DC, venues, more than 17,500 animals representing 900 species call the National Aquarium home. There are constant changes, additions, and more going on behind the scenes that our guests may not notice during their visit. We want to share these fun updates with our community so we're bringing them to you in our weekly Animal Update posts!

Check our WATERblog every Friday to find out what's going on... here's what's new this week!

Making Connections!

Beginning today, guests to the National Aquarium will find several exciting and innovative changes to enhance their experience and provide them with opportunities to view and interact with our animals and animal experts in different ways.

A highlight of the changes includes a redesigned dolphin program. Our previous format of timed, limited-access and separately priced shows have been replaced with an exciting program that offers ALL of our guests all-day access to the dolphins and experts, including elements like training, playtime and feeding in the newly renovated Dolphin Discovery. As of today, guests will be able to spend as much time as they’d like watching and learning about the dolphins. At regular intervals throughout the day, our expert trainers and staff will be leading interactive sessions that will give our guests a glimpse into the life of our dolphins like never before. These sessions will run for approximately 15–20 minutes and will cover topics like adaptations, training, play and enrichment, communication and more.

Dolphin husbandry and animal care are just two of the many things you can now learn about in our daily Dolphin Discovery interactions!

We’re also increasing our staff-led interactions to more than 40 per day – which is more than three times what we’ve done in the past! These interactions include keeper talks, dives and feedings, live animal encounters and other enrichment activities.

Join us for more than 40 encounters every day including feedings, live animal encounters, enrichment sessions, keeper talks & more!

How will you find these new encounters, you ask? With your new handy-dandy map guide and schedule of course! When you arrive at the Aquarium, be sure to pick up one of our new collectible maps. It will not only help you find your way around, but also provides you with the daily schedule of encounters, feedings, etc.

We’re thrilled to be making some big changes this year at the Aquarium, starting with this new programming that will give our guests more opportunities to make connections with our animals and experts!